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A review by bonnybonnybooks
Glamorous Illusions by Lisa T. Bergren
3.0
Apparently some time around 2012 I added a number of Christian historical romances to my to read list and then promptly forgot I had done so. I had this book marked as "young adult" which I spent the last decade or so sincerely believing it was. I think I was looking for "clean" (low spice) romance books, and these books fit that bill. I am now trying to get through my huge TBR backlist and so am rediscovering these titles.
I read [b:Masquerade|6973760|Masquerade|Nancy Moser|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1258612178l/6973760._SY75_.jpg|57958016] earlier this year and quite enjoyed it. This one I enjoyed less, but I can certainly see the appeal of this genre, so long as you appreciate or don't mind books with an emphasis on Christianity.
These books are pure, fluffy wish fulfillment with hardships being overcome by kind dispositions and Providence. In this book, Cora Kensington is the hardworking daughter of simple farm folk who dreams of being a teacher. But when her father gets sick and they are in dire financial straits, her true father swoops in. Her mother was seduced by a powerful Copper King (a wealthy industrialist who made his fortune in copper mines) who treated his illegitimate offspring with benign neglect (he certainly wasn't giving them enough money to keep the farm!). He suddenly decides to take an interest in Cora - by shipping her off with her half-siblings on a Grand Tour of Europe.
While on the Tour, Cora develops feelings for both their handsome young tour guide, Will (known as a "Bear" ), and a dashing French aristocrat. She is also for some reason the target of a violent kidnapping plot for ransom, which I'm pretty sure is not something that happened on the Grand Tour - the characters act like it is expected that the children of the wealthy would be ransom targets, which makes sense, but people would not be sending their daughters on a Grand Tour if that had really happened. I confess that I was tuning in and out of the middle of this book - it was a pleasant audiobook but not something I paid keen attention to - so maybe the kidnapping plot was better explained but it felt like the tour group was swanning around Western Europe enjoying themselves and then all of a sudden had to fight off kidnappers.
I enjoyed Masquerade more because there was better character growth. Cora felt like an early Victorian morality tale heroine like Heidi or Pollyanna - a sweet girl who with the power of goodness and faith succeeds (she easily convinces her Copper King father to give his employees $1 more an hour - I highly doubt a 19th century industrialist could be swayed by a young girl's gumption into giving up any more money than he had to. This was the era where Copper Kings hired the Pinkertons to beat their miners to death for demanding fair wages). It makes the book cozy and pleasant, but not particularly interesting to me.
I read [b:Masquerade|6973760|Masquerade|Nancy Moser|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1258612178l/6973760._SY75_.jpg|57958016] earlier this year and quite enjoyed it. This one I enjoyed less, but I can certainly see the appeal of this genre, so long as you appreciate or don't mind books with an emphasis on Christianity.
These books are pure, fluffy wish fulfillment with hardships being overcome by kind dispositions and Providence. In this book, Cora Kensington is the hardworking daughter of simple farm folk who dreams of being a teacher. But when her father gets sick and they are in dire financial straits, her true father swoops in. Her mother was seduced by a powerful Copper King (a wealthy industrialist who made his fortune in copper mines) who treated his illegitimate offspring with benign neglect (he certainly wasn't giving them enough money to keep the farm!). He suddenly decides to take an interest in Cora - by shipping her off with her half-siblings on a Grand Tour of Europe.
While on the Tour, Cora develops feelings for both their handsome young tour guide, Will (known as a "Bear" ), and a dashing French aristocrat. She is also for some reason the target of a violent kidnapping plot for ransom, which I'm pretty sure is not something that happened on the Grand Tour - the characters act like it is expected that the children of the wealthy would be ransom targets, which makes sense, but people would not be sending their daughters on a Grand Tour if that had really happened. I confess that I was tuning in and out of the middle of this book - it was a pleasant audiobook but not something I paid keen attention to - so maybe the kidnapping plot was better explained but it felt like the tour group was swanning around Western Europe enjoying themselves and then all of a sudden had to fight off kidnappers.
I enjoyed Masquerade more because there was better character growth. Cora felt like an early Victorian morality tale heroine like Heidi or Pollyanna - a sweet girl who with the power of goodness and faith succeeds (she easily convinces her Copper King father to give his employees $1 more an hour - I highly doubt a 19th century industrialist could be swayed by a young girl's gumption into giving up any more money than he had to. This was the era where Copper Kings hired the Pinkertons to beat their miners to death for demanding fair wages). It makes the book cozy and pleasant, but not particularly interesting to me.